Do US men value fatherhood over their careers?

October 13, 2011

The classic figure of a distant, career-focused father who spends lots of time at the office and who has little time for his kids might be getting outdated, a new study shows.

In a nationwide survey that examined Americans' feelings on fatherhood, 77 percent of U.S. men rated being a good father as very important, while just 49 percent said the same about having a successful career.

Still, the study, which surveyed nearly 1,000 men across the United States who are in relationships with women, suggests that fathers and non-fathers alike see fatherhood as a "package deal" -- they consider things like work and leisure important, too. But those elements complement, not compete with, being a parent.

"There is an image for men that if they're into their career, then they're not into being fathers," said Julia McQuillan, professor of sociology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and co-author of the research. "These results, however, show something quite different. Men don't have to be into one or the other. They can be into both."

The research surveyed both fathers and non-fathers who were either married or co-habiting, and was unique in that men were not asked to choose between things like work, parenthood or leisure and rank them against one another. Instead, researchers asked them to rate the importance of fatherhood alongside other interests in their lives.

By doing so, the study uncovered several insights into modern attitudes on fatherhood, both for men with children and those without. Notably, cultural and identity factors were more important than economic ones when considering men's feelings on fatherhood.

McQuillan said she was surprised that so many men agreed with concepts that were originally developed by researchers for another study that measured the importance of motherhood to women. The results are counter to conventional notions of fathers seeing themselves chiefly as economic providers.

Most of the men agreed or strongly agreed with statements such as "Having children is important to my feeling complete as a man"; "I always thought I would be a parent"; "I think my life will be or is more fulfilling with children"; and "It is important for me to have children," she said.

"There has been considerable focus on women's challenges combining motherhood and employment. Yet in this sample only half of the men considered their career very important," McQuillan said. "Perhaps recognizing that fatherhood is important to men could open employers up to creating flexibility for parenting among men as well as women, and to not assume anything about employees based on gender or parenthood status alone."

Also among the findings:

-- Men who valued leisure and career, who espoused greater religiosity, who embraced non-egalitarian gender values, and who were already fathers tended to value fatherhood most.

-- Fathers had lower education levels, were less likely to be in school, were more religious and were more likely to endorse non-egalitarian gender attitudes.

More information:
The study, to appear in the journal Fathering, was authored by Veronica Tichenor of the State University of New York-Institute of Technology; UNL's McQuillan; Arthur Griel of Alfred University; Raleigh Contreras of UNL; and Karina Shreffler of Oklahoma State University.

A new Northwestern University study provides compelling evidence that human males are biologically wired to care for their offspring, conclusively showing for the first time that fatherhood lowers a man's testosterone levels.

Public interest in the issue of teenage childbearing has recently increased, largely due to increases in both the teen pregnancy rate and the teen birth rate. A new study from Economic Inquiry examines the negative educational ...

Men are sometimes criticized for being unwilling to ask for directions when they travel, but they can benefit from looking for help as they begin their journeys as fathers, according to a researcher on fatherhood at the University ...

Although their involvement is very different, childbirth is an important shared experience for the first-time father and his partner, yet men generally attend childbirth classes only for their partner's sake, reveals research ...

(Phys.org)—A team of researchers with the University of Edinburgh has found evidence that the "Thames Beater" was a weapon that could be used to kill another person—perhaps at times, with a single blow to the head. In ...

The best decisions are made on the basis of the average of various estimates, as confirmed by the research of Dennie van Dolder and Martijn van den Assem, scientists at VU Amsterdam. Using data from Holland Casino promotional ...

One of the world's 7,000 languages vanishes every other week, and half - including scores of indigenous North American languages—might not survive the 21st century, experts say. To preserve as much linguistic diversity ...

Fossilised ticks discovered trapped and preserved in amber show that these parasites sucked the blood of feathered dinosaurs almost 100 million years ago, according to a new article published in Nature Communications today.

Everyone wants to be with their family for Christmas, but spare a thought for a group of orphan fossils that have been separated from their parents since the dawn of animal evolution, over half a billion years ago.

i am a single father of 4, all of who are very small, and all of whom live with me...I do what I must for them, but the importance of a career is just as high as the importance of being there with/for them. without my career, sure, id be with them more, but in our car on the street...leisure however...HA! thats a laugh...

Before my former corporate employer of 20 some odd years sent its jobs overseas and then get sold off, there was talk of family values. But when you're afraid of losing your job you'll gladly work 60 hour weeks and watch as the family sit-down meal goes the way of the dodo.

Please sign in to add a comment.
Registration is free, and takes less than a minute.
Read more

Click here to reset your password.
Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made.